


Ready or Not?

by AHaplessBystander



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Ambiguous Age, Angst, Canon Compliant, Consent, Cuddling, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Implied Tim/Kon if you squint, Kissing, Past Torture, Relationship Discussions, Romance, Sex Talk, Sexual Content, Sexual Humor, Teasing, past pregnancy, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 03:17:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8873650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHaplessBystander/pseuds/AHaplessBystander
Summary: Tim and Stephanie have a close relationship but have yet to have sex. After years of being together and having their romance interrupted Tim finally feels ready but is Stephanie? He wants their first time having sex to be perfect so he decides to head to the one person he trusts most for advice: Dick Grayson.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Abbyromana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbyromana/gifts).



> For Abbyromana, happy holidays!
> 
> Tim and Stephanie are some of my favorite characters, they have a wonderful dynamic and relationship. It was wonderful to finally get a chance to write about them.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

“Alright Robin, if the murders haven’t solved themselves in the last half hour then they’re not going to tonight,” Stephanie looks over at the clock, “Or rather this morning.”

Tim doesn’t look away from his laptop but his frown deepens. He hears her let out a sigh and move toward him, pushing the lid of the computer closed.

“Hey!”

“Tim it’s four a.m. and I have a quiz tomorrow. Can we go to bed, please?” she asks.

Now that he’s not looking a screen anymore his eyes sting and he feels a headache starting, “Yeah. Yeah you’re right, c’mon.”

They’ve been pulling late nights, even for their standards, the whole week. Gotham kept finding things to throw at them and keep the whole family busy. Stephanie had crashed at the manor with him the past three nights, too tired to make it back to the apartment she shared with Cass in the city.

They got ready for bed and changed into pajamas, Steph coming out of the bathroom in one of his shirts and a pair of his boxers. He raises an eyebrow and she shrugs, climbing into bed with him.

It wasn’t always like this, them falling into bed totally exhausted from crime-fighting. Even on their nights off they stayed up late but instead of sleeping they just laid in bed talking about anything and everything. In the quiet darkness of their bedrooms all their secrets and worries could finally be said out loud. The night was quiet, the other members of the family still out on patrol but as soon as Tim settled in he could feel sleep pulling at his limbs.

He wraps his arms around Steph, spooning her and snuggling up behind her and then he realizes that he’s accidentally cupping her breast. He smooths his hand down her side to a more safe position.

“Y’know it’s okay to touch me there right?” Steph mumbles, her eyes closed.

“Oh,” he moves his hand back up, just underneath the soft swell of it, “We’ve just never...uh… it’s fine for you to touch me too.”

She gives half a laugh and pushes her butt back into the cradle of his hips, giving a small wiggle that makes him choke on his gasp.

“Well maybe we’ll find some time for exploration soon.” Steph says mushing her face into her pillow.

Tim thinks he hears a muffled ‘damn supervillains’ but it could have easily been something else as he listens to her breathing even out. He smiles and brushes a kiss to the back of her neck before closing his own eyes.

~~~

It wasn’t that they hadn’t talked about it. They had talked about their experiences, shared their insecurities about their past relationships and laughed about their young awkwardness in memories. They had teased each other, giving hints about what each of them liked or things they’d like to do, whispered into an ear and followed up by a searing kiss.

But they hadn’t gone farther than that. For so long Tim was content with whatever time he did get to spend with Stephanie. Meeting up with her on patrol and going on dates when she still didn’t know who he really was, holding hands and having late night make-outs, hands barely straying into uncharted territory. And that was okay with him, he’d wanted to wait until they were both ready. In the past, with Ariana, he hadn’t been ready and neither had she even though she had tried to initiate it.

Tim feels ready now, like he’s finally in a stable place in his life and his relationship with Stephanie. They’ve been through so much together and he wants them to be able to share this too. But he isn’t sure if Stephanie is at the same place as him.

One night after a run in with Black Mask, they lay together at her apartment, Tim’s arms wrapped protectively around her, holding her together while she confided in him. How she wasn’t always sure of her body anymore, how she was afraid of what sex would be like after the pregnancy and the beatings she had taken. He hadn’t known what to say then, that he thought she was perfect, that he would love her no matter what, so Tim had just held onto her and dried her tears as they came.

After last night though, he feels more confident that she might be ready too. Maybe not ready for sex but for more than what they had been doing.

The thought of it makes Tim excited. And it makes him so nervous he had felt like throwing up while eating breakfast that morning.

Steph had given him a funny look at the expression he had made and then ran to catch a ride into the city with Alfred.

It was approaching three o’clock in the afternoon and Tim was hardly getting any work done. He couldn’t stop thinking about sex, about sex with Stephanie. Objectively he knew he was obsessing, it was the way his brain worked, but he didn’t want to ‘solve’ the problem of sex. He knew how sex worked, had done his research, watched porn though he found he wasn’t fond of it, mostly got off on his own with his hands and some lube. But he never really thought about it as something that could happen to him tomorrow.

Above everything else, Tim wants to be able to make it good for Stephanie. He wants to press soft touches to her body and leave trails of kisses across her skin, wants to make her writhe with slow burning pleasure. And therein lay Tim’s problem: how to bring her the highest of pleasures.

He thinks about who’s free today, who he could talk to. Despite their close relationship he didn’t want to ask Bruce, that was one awkward conversation he could do without. He knows Jason’s latest hideout and is due for a visit but he has a niggling feeling that Jason doesn’t have much more experience than him. So that left the obvious answer, the person he’d always go to for advice.

~~~

The setting sun finds Tim driving up the Metro-Narrows Bridge on his motorcycle. Passing from the tall, imposing structures of Gotham into warehouse districts and docks. He keeps on the highway heading for the lights of Bludhaven.

He drives through the decrepit lower class neighborhoods until he comes into the mostly rebuilt middle class divisions. There he enters the apartment of one Alvin Draper and changes into his costume, heading out the window, onto the rooftops as Red Robin.

It only takes him a short while to find a familiar figure crouched on the edge of a taller building’s roof. Tim had pinged Dick’s comm as soon as he had left the apartment, finding his brother already patrolling for the night. He fires his grapple and climbs up to where Nightwing is surveying the streets below.

Dick doesn’t look up when he approaches, “Robin.”

“Nightwing,” Tim acknowledges, seeing a smile appear on the other man’s face.

“Always nice to see you in the ‘Haven. Here for the night?” Dick turns, effortlessly transitioning from his crouch to sitting and leaning back into the open air.

“Yeah. Need a partner?” he asks.

“Sure!” says Dick, letting go of the lip of the roof and falling into the space beyond. He somersaults and fires his grapple, swinging across the street, forcing Tim to follow after him.

They stop a robbery and a mugging before Nightwing slows down on a secluded rooftop.

“Something on your mind? As much as I love your surprise visits, they’re usually when you need to talk.”

Tim sighs, “Actually yes, I did want your advice on something.”

He’s having second thoughts about even bringing it up. It isn’t that Dick doesn’t have experience, Tim knows he has a lot, he just isn’t sure how to talk about it. Last time they had a talk like this had been years ago and Dick had almost fallen off a train when he mentioned that his girlfriend was pregnant.

“Hmm, from the look on your face I’m going to guess relationship troubles,” Dick says with a smile, “Is this about Kon again?”

Tim sputters, his train of thought completely derailed. Dick laughs and vaults away to the next roof. It takes Tim a moment to follow him but it was just what he needed. Dick’s teasing relaxed him and he knew then he’d come to the right person.

He catches up with Nightwing and as they run across the skyline of the city he tells him what’s been going on. Talking to him had always been easy, he’d confided all his worries in Dick over the years they’d been brothers. He listened and let him get it all out before speaking again.

“I’m proud of you Timmy,” Dick says. They’re taking a break on the tallest building they could find the area. Nightwing lounges across an air duct, holding his chin with a hand, “Sounds like you already know what you’re doing to me.”

Tim nods. He does.

“I just want to make it good for Steph.”

“Sure, but it should also be good for you. I think sex should be fun and relaxing, no need to go all serious your first time. You two have been through so much together, you know each other, it’s going to be fine.”

“I know. I know that. I just want more time with her, we’re so busy all the time. I would love to spend a day with her without any villains or murders!” he says, agitated. “What? What’s with that look?”

He couldn’t see all of Dick’s expression because of the domino mask but his mouth was pulled into a fond smile and his head cocked to the side.

Dick shakes his head, “Nothing. Y’know my first kisses with Babs were in the middle of missions. I know how you feel.

“Now, tell me Timmy, what do you know about the clitoris?”

He lets out a strangled ‘whaa’ and Dick starts laughing again.

~~~

All in all Tim considered it a successful trip. They had stopped some crime and he had had what was probably the least embarrassing sex talk in his life so far. Dick had also offered him help in more than one way.

He didn’t want to have sex at the manor. There was almost always someone home which meant hardly any privacy, a safe house seemed too impersonal and Steph lived with Cass. So Dick had offered to invite Cass out to a ballet in Metropolis that he was thinking she might enjoy and then cover Tim and Stephanie’s patrols for the night. Which meant they had an empty apartment and free night tomorrow. All he had to do was check in to see what Steph was up to that day and let her know they had the night off.

~~~

Cass was easy to live with. She was quiet, respected Stephanie’s space and they only fought about whose turn it was to clean once a week. But as much as Cass visited the other Bats, she was always around. Which for the most part was fine. Stephanie had plans though.

She was content with her relationship with Tim, they had moved a good pace for her. Lately it seemed like their progress in knowing each other had been stalled by every problem in the world. Every time they got into a heavy makeout session someone would interrupt them. She had broken her last comm unit when Babs had called them in to help stop a jail break. They really needed a night in together, no interruptions.

When Stephanie gets home she finds Cass bundled in a blanket on the couch watching figure skating. She drops her book bag on the table and sits down next to her.

“Hey Cass, would you mind letting me have the apartment alone tomorrow night?”

She looks thoughtful for a moment, “There’s a ballet in Metropolis. I could take Dick.”

“Haha!” Steph pulls her into a brief hug, “Thanks Cass!”

She gives her a rare smile and turns back to the TV. Steph grabs her phone and moves into her room. All that was left was to call in a favor with Babs. Her phone vibrates and lights up with an incoming text.

It’s from Tim, asking what she’s up to tomorrow.

Perfect.

~~~

The next day Tim packs a bag with clothes and other necessities for staying the night at Stephanie’s and stops in front of his dresser. He stares at the small box of condoms laying on the top of it. They were a couple months old, he had wanted to be ready but as he thought about bringing them he wasn’t sure.

When they had spoken, the topic of penetrative sex hadn’t come up for what they were doing tonight. He didn’t want to bring them and have Steph feel pressured to have sex.

What if they weren’t the right kind?

What if Steph liked the flavored kind?

Would she even want him to wear one?

They hadn’t talked about it, not explicitly, so he decides not to bring them. That way neither of them will feel pressured that they need to have sex. After all, he just wants to spend more time with her and if that means more kissing and cuddles then he’s fine with it.

He takes a deep breath and slings his bag over his shoulder, leaving his room for the garage. It takes him almost no time at all to weave through the city traffic and get to Stephanie’s place. For once he enters through the building’s main door and takes the stairs to her floor, letting himself in with a key.

Stephanie is the kitchen stirring a pot of something on the stove.

“Science experiment?” he asks.

“Har har. It’s dinner.”

It’s just spaghetti with a red sauce and then ice cream for dessert. They cuddle up on the couch while they eat, watching reruns on the television and not talking about anything related to vigilant business. It’s different for them and kind of refreshing. He ends up chasing the sweetness of the ice cream to her lips and into her mouth.

He’s laying on top of her, TV forgotten, pressing kisses to her lips. When he moves to her neck and trails his lips lightly down the length of it, settling in the juncture of her neck and shoulder, to mouth at the skin there. Steph lets out a soft moan and shifts beneath him.

She presses her hands to his shoulders, pushing him back off her and up. The television gets turned off and she leads him into her bedroom where they lay facing each other. He lets her take the lead this time, brushing a kiss against his mouth, kissing up his jaw and giving the lobe of his ear a bite. That gets a groan out of him and she wraps her arms around his shoulders, pressing her body against him. And it’s good, it’s perfect.

They part to breathe again, drawing in greedy breaths of each other’s air, and he stares into her eyes.

“We don’t have to do anything more tonight if you’re not ready,” he tells her quietly.

Steph smiles and runs a hand through his hair, “Same for you but I think I’m ready.”

“But we haven’t talked about this at all, we haven’t filled out any lists of what we like and… and I didn’t bring any condoms!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay Tim.” She draws him into a tight hug.

“I just want it to be perfect for you,” he whispers, feeling nervous again.

She snorts a laugh and pulls back from him, raising an eyebrow, “Perfect? Tim it’s our first time together. First times are supposed to be a little awkward and feel kinda silly. I love that you want to be perfect for me.”

Her finger boops his nose and he goes cross-eyed trying to look at it.

“We’ll take it slow, talk about things as they come up and check in with each other. If you do something I don’t like I tell you and you’ll stop because I know you. You’ll do the same, right?” she says taking her finger away and pressing a kiss to his nose, “And I have condoms.”

“Oh,” he croaks, watching her get up and go into the bathroom, returning a moment later with a box in her hands.

“I got the kind with slight ribbing and lube. Jason said those kind feel the best.”

Tim coughs to cover the choking noise that escapes him, “Jesus.”

Stephanie laughs and climbs back onto the bed, coming to a stop hovering over him. She nuzzles her face in his neck and then moves her mouth to his ear.

“So what do you want to do Tim? ‘Cause I have some ideas.” Her breath just ghosting over his ear.

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Well for starters, I’d really really like to ride you,” she says with a smirk.

He gasps and feels lightheaded as all the blood in his body rushes south. Oh yeah, everything would be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> This was beta'd by the ever lovely Voronoi, who catches all my dumb mistakes.
> 
> I kind of want to keep going with this story.


End file.
